Face Your Fears

Chapter Three

Ethan was shocked at the girls lips touching his, he was even more shocked even he didn't push away at first. It felt natural to be kissing her, it felt like they already knew each other. But it was wrong, he'd get fired if they knew she was even up here in the first place. He pulled away.

Robin gasped and buried her face in her hands. She was hurt because he rejected her, but she knew he had to, she knew she fucked up by kissing him. She fucked up by even going there. In one quick motion she ran out the door, down the stairs and all the way back to her dorm, never looking back, not even when she heard him say something as she ran out the door.

"Wait!" Ethan stood up from the couch as she ran out, she didn't hear him. He sat back down on his couch, thinking about what had just happened. He softly bit on his bottom lip, the feeling of hers on his was still fresh in his mind. It was a mistake to allow her in his apartment, he should have just answered her question and told her to go home. But for some reason, ever since he saw he, he felt this odd connection with her, before they even spoke to one another.

The sun rose while Robin slipped off into a deep sleep after taking Halcion, a drug that she was prescribed over a year ago due to having insomnia. She was running on empty and by the time she got back from Ethan's apartment, she felt like she'd collapse. Lucky for her, it was Saturday, she had the day off. Seeing Ethan again was going to be difficult, but she didn't want to think about it until the time came.

"Wake up!" Casey was all dressed up in a cute fall dress, it was noon and she had been waiting far to long for Robin to finally wake up, so she took it upon herself to wake her up. "Come on! Let's head over to the park, they are having some fall festival thing!" Robin smiled a little, feeling better now that she had some sleep.

"I'm up, I'm up." She said, rolling herself out of bed and heading into the bathroom to get dressed.

When Robin and Casey walked over to the park, Robin decided she'd tell her about what had happened. "Professor Butcher and I...." She sighed. "We kissed." Casey stopped and turned towards Robin, her mouth wide open and all she could do was mouth the word 'what'.

Robin nodded. "Yeah, I went over to his apartment last night because, I don't know, I needed to know if he had hurt that Adam boy. And well, I kissed him." 

"You went over there thinking he murdered someone and you kissed him?" Casey shook her head. "You are all kinds of crazy." She laughed. "Well, what happened next? Did he kiss you back?" Her eyes lit up. "Do you guys fuck?" She whispered the last part.

"Oh my god, no! But he did kiss me back, at least for a few seconds before he pulled away. Then I ran out of there so fast." Robin cupped her face in her hands, trying to hide her red cheeks. "God, I'm so embarrassed." She admitted.

Casey arched her eyebrow. "Did he kill that boy?" She asked.

"I don't think so." Robin said as she walked towards the fall festival, she didn't want to think about Adam anymore, she wish she could get that image out of her head.

"Speak of the devil." Casey pointed over at a bench, there was Ethan, reading that book Robin remembered seeing on his couch. Looks like she'd have to face her embarrassment a lot sooner than she thought. 

Ethan felt as if someone was looking at him, he glanced up from his book and saw some girl who was giving him a weird look and next to her was Robin. Damn she looked beautiful in that black tight long dress. His thoughts made him cringe. She was 17 years younger than him and she was his student, but he couldn't stop from admiring her beauty.

 "Great. He saw use staring at him." Robin turned away, trying to escape his gaze.

"So what?" Casey shrugged her shoulders than gave Ethan a smug smile and waved. Ethan couldn't help but snicker a little. That was when he stood up and walked towards them. "He must not have gotten enough last night because here he comes."

"Mr. Matthews." He said, nodding towards her as a greeting, Casey quickly walking away from them, leaving Robin and Ethan alone.

"Listen, I don't know what happened last night, my boyfriend just recently broke up with me, seeing that boy's dead body had shocked me completely. I'm just not in the right state of mind. I should have never went over to your place, I should have never..." Her voice trailed off. She realized she had been talking quite loudly. "...Sorry." She whispered.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it, really. It's nothing to be ashamed about." He shrugged. "Besides I could have stopped the whole kissing thing from happening, but I didn't...at first. So, it's really not your fault." He tilted his head to the side a little. "Are you all right though? You ran out of there so fast last night. I... I hope I didn't hurt your feelings or anything." He asked concernedly, his eyes trailed down her body quickly.

Robin nodded. "Yes, I'm fine." She could feel her face was bright red, especially when she saw him give her a body a look over. Was he trying to tease her? Did he know he was checking her out? She started to feel flustered and backed away from him a bit, noticing that their bodies had gotten closer to each other since they first began talking.

"Ethan!" A girl ran up and wrapped her arms around Ethan's neck, pulling him into a tight embrace. The girl was older than Robin and quite beautiful. Robin started to feel very uncomfortable, was this is girlfriend, god she looked like a Victoria Secret model. For the first time she began to feel very insecure about herself.

"Rachel, it's great to see you again." He hugged the woman back, he wasn't as enthusiastic about it as she was. "This is Ms. Matthews, one of my students."

The woman named Rachel gave Robin a look over, gave a very small smile and said. "Hello." Robin smiled back and just nodded her head then turned and walked away quickly, looking for Casey.

When Robin found Casey, she was chatting up some boy. "Hey." Robin said walking up to them, hoping she didn't intrude. Casey turned and smiled.

"Hey!" She said, tilting up on her tippy toes. "This is Frank." She said, introducing the male. Frank just slid up the corner of his lip in a half smile, obviously trying to look cool. It wasn't working on Robin, but Casey was all for it. 

"Hey, Frank." Robin said, watching Ethan disappear with that Rachel girl, her arm was around his. She rolled her eyes and turned away, trying to focus on Casey and Frank who were talking about some party in memorial to Adam that was being held that night. 

Great, another party. Robin thought to herself, she wasn't very interested, especially knowing Casey will probably run off again and leave Robin there by herself. The face of Adam flashed in her mind again, it made her stomach cringe and she felt like she was about to puke up her entire insides. 

"So? Should we go?" Casey asked, giving Robin puppy eyes.

"Sure, why not?" Robin shrugged her shoulders, looking back behind her, hoping to see Ethan but he was gone.

The girls walked up the stairs where loud music was blasting from speakers. Robin looked through the window and saw people grinding against one another, drinks in hand. Even Adam's girlfriend was drinking and dancing with some dude, Robin was surprised.

Casey immediately walked over to Frank and jumped on him. "Let's dance!" She said and they proceeded to the dance floor. Robin sighed, knowing that she'd probably be alone for the rest of the night.

The air outside gave Robin some much needed space, she sat down on the stairs, hoping some guy wouldn't start hitting on her again. But when she saw her, she would much rather deal with some drunken student than her. Anything but her. Why was she even here?

"Hello, Robin." Vicki Summers grinned, her lip gloss shining in the moonlight.